Pacific Rim lacks intelligence, but makes up for it with eye candy and loud noises.

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2013)

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Pacific Rim takes place in the not-so-distant future. Where Monsters (referred to as kaiju- Japanese for Monster) are mysteriously coming out of a portal in the ocean. The humans counter attack with huge robots (referred to as jaeger-German for hunter), run by two humans, by connecting their minds through deep secrets and memories so they could synchronize their attacks.
The plot is pretty generic and the movie plays out like eye candy. It's easy on the eyes and very low on plot and emotion. You tend to not feel bad for the world because it just seems so easy for the monsters and the robots to destroy it. Obviously, millions are dying but who cares. We are basically watch huge robots and monsters fighting each other to the death ! What else is there that we should care about?
I will not take away points from a mindless summer action movie just because it's all action and no depth but I just felt like I couldn't care for anything or anyone who was having bad things happen to them. There was no emotional involvement or enough of a back story for me to get involved emotionally.
The actors seemed to be overacting at part and, at times, seemed to be very wooden. I'd feel worse for your character if you just showed me that you actually cared about what's going on. Charlie Day was fantastic as the comic relief. He plays a scientist who is an expert on the Kaiju. I believe Charlie Day is great in every movie he's in and his future is a bright one. You also have a very funny cameo from Ron Perlman, who you may know from Hellboy, who plays a black market Kaiju parts dealer. Rinko Kikuchi, the female lead, was also pretty bad ass. Although, through her intense emotional back story, you found it hard to care about what she went through. The characters don't react to it very well, which is disappointing because her story is the reason why she's involved in the project. Same goes for the lead, Charlie hunnam, who plays Raleigh Becket, who's emotional back story is the beginning to our story. After the beginning, you tend to forget what happens, as you are taken away through the epic battle scenes that take place.
I must say, the action scenes were breathtaking and the CGI was just spectacular. I had chills every time a battle scene between the robots and the monsters was happening. Although, at times, it seemed very hard to follow as everything was happening so fast. I did see it in IMAX 3D, which made the experience enjoyable in terms of sounds and feeling, but didn't help the movie as the darker scenes were the scenes that were harder to follow, and more of the fighting scenes happened in the dark and in water. Rain and splashes from water seemed to have gotten in the way of the blows between enemies which made it hard for me to be completely blown away.
Pacific Rim was your typical summer popcorn action flick. Lacking intelligence but making it up with visual eye candy and loud noises. Sometimes, that isn't always a bad thing. We expect this sometimes in summer movies. It's what we look forward to. For all of you thinking this is a Transformers rip-off, no need to worry. This is a smarter, darker take on mindless action. Not a lot of explosions or hot girls. Just something to have a little bit of fun with.
Grade: B-